INTRODUCTION
SINCE 1945， AMERICAN foreign and military policies have
been predicated on the central theme of preserving the \"national secu-
rity\" of the United States. With the passage of time， the purported
. \"national seeurity\" interests of the United States have assumed global
dimensions. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have re-
peatedly sought， through covert or overt intervention， military solu-
tions to international problems that are essentially political， economic，
social， or cultural in origin.
This \"national security\" phobia has fueled the evolution of a perma-
nent war economy that has made the United States， because of its
superior technology， the principal force in global arms escalation， both
nuclear and conventional. In fiscal year 1984， the Reagan administra-
tion has asked for an arms budget of some $280 billion， as part of a
five-year (fiscal years 1982-86) military spending projection of $1.6 tril-
lion， which， because of cost overruns and expected suppleinental appro-
priations， has already been projected to reach $2.3 trillion. A recent
study by the Congressional Budget Ofllce indicates that， at present
growth/inllation rates， we may well be spending $422 billion a year on
tile military by 1987.
When he was Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy administcation，
Robert S. MeNamara defined deterrence as the capacity to destroy 30
percent of the Soviet society s population and 70 percent of its eco-
nomic infrastructure. He felt this objective could be achieved through
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